By DPA
Stockholm : Swedish football coach Lars Lagerback and his deputy Roland Anderssson have extended their contracts to 2010, the Swedish Football Association said.
During Lagerback’s tenure Sweden has chalked up an impressive record by qualifying to five major championships in a row: Euro 2000 and 2004 as well as the World Cup finals 2002 and 2006, and now the Euro 2008 tournament.
In a joint statement issued Friday, Lagerback and Andersson said they aimed at trying to qualify Sweden for its “sixth championship in a row – if we make it to the World Cup finals in South Africa 2010.”
The World Cup qualifications were a “huge challenge that would begin as soon as the Euro (2008) tournament is over,” they said.
The president of the football association Lars-Ake Lagrell said he was “very happy” over the news, citing the duo’s “incredible results.”
Sweden, was the only Nordic nation to qualify to the Euro 2008 finals in Austria and Switzerland.
Lagerback, 59, was deputy coach to Tommy Soderberg in 1998, in 2000 he shared the head coach position with Soderberg until 2004 when Soderberg resigned.